Electric winch



Feb. 2l, 1950 K, MAHNKE 2,498,286

ELECTRIC WINCH Filed Feb. 24, 1945 WITNESSES: INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patentecl F eb. 21, 1950 ELECTRIC WINCH Kurt Mahnke, Forest Hills, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 24, 1945, Serial N o. 579,648

2 Claims.

My invention relates to electric hoist or winch equipment, such as marine winches for use on board of ship or other cargo handling purposes, and deals especially with an air cooling system for the electric motor of such equipment.

For electric motors which require forced ventilation and are to operate in impure r highly humid air, air purifying and drying devices have been used in order to condition the air before forcing it through the motor. Devices of this type are rather expensive and require too much space for many cases of application. Winch motors have, therefore, been equipped with a closed air circulation system in which the air is cooled outside the motor in radiators or heat exchangers in order to retain a limited quantity of air in the system and dissipate the motor heat to the outside air or to cooling liquid. The known systems also of this type increase considerably the space requirements of the equipment.

It is an object of my invention to provide hoisting and winch equipment, especially marine Winches, with an air cooling system of the circulation type which requires little or virtually no space in addition to that usually occupied by the equipment proper, and it is also an object to devise the system in such a, manner that it functions also to heat the gears and other movable or greased mechanisms of the equipment in order to facilitate working in cold Weather.

Certain types of hoist and winch equipment have a hollow frame and enclosure structure which supports the hoist or winch drum and the appertaining motor and which accommodates in its interior the brake, contactors, and other control equipment. According to my invention, I design this structure so that its interior is in communication with the interior of the motor to be cooled and provide it with ducts, partitions, or the like means so as to form a circulation path for air; and I arrange a blower in this path in order to obtain a forced air circulation through the motor and the enclosure structure so that the large outside areas of the structure act as radiating surfaces for cooling the air before it re-enters the motor on its circulatory travel.

These and other features of the invention Will be apparent from the following description in conjunction with the drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a cargo winch designed in accordance with the invention,

Fig. 2 is a top view of the same Winch, and

Fig. 3 represents a part sectional front View of the same embodiment.

The illustrated winch has a hollow supporting end frame structure which is composed of a base portion I and two side portions 2 and 3. The side portions extend upwardly from the base portion and are substantially in parallel to each other, so that the cross section through the composite base and frame structure is substantially U- shaped. A winch drum 4 is located between the two side portions 2 and 3 and is geared to an electric motor 5 which is likewise located between the side portions 2 and 3 and mounted on the base portion I. The gearing (not shown) between motor and drum and also a friction brake (not shown) are located within the side portion 3, while the side portion 2 contains the electric contactors and other control means appertaining to the winch. Each side portion serves thus as an enclosure or cabinet for the winch accessories and is provided with doors or removable panels such as those denoted by 6, 'l and 8.

The hollow base structure I is divided by a cross partition 9 into two compartments, one being located underneath the winch drum 4 and the other underneath the motor 5. The latter compartment is subdivided by a longitudinal partition I0. The two compartments on opposite sides of the partition 9 are in free communication with the interior of the side portions 2 and 3 respectively. The two sections II and I2 on opposite sides of the partition I0 are in communication with the interior of the motor 5. The latter communication is established by means of conduits I3 and I4. These conduits are preferably formed by hollow mounting feet for the motor 5 and they are sufficiently spaced from `each other so that the air passing from one to the other conduit reaches all essential parts to be cooled inside the motor. A blower I 5 driven by the motor 5 or by a separate motor is arranged in the side portion 2 of the enclosure structure in order to force the air from portion 2 into the compartment section II. The provision of a separate blower motor has the advantage that it can be kept running while the main motor is standing still or running at slow speed only.

It will be seen that the above described structure forms a closed circulation path for the air enclosed by the hollow supporting end frame structure. This path is indicated by arrows and extends from section II through conduit I3, motor 5, conduit I4, section I2 and side portion 3, thence through the base compartment underneath the Winch drum I to the side portion 2.

The hollow mounting feet, sub-base, gear enclosures and other spaces of the machine have outside surfaces many times larger than the suri? face of the motor itself. Consequently, during the cooling operation, the air heated in the motor is effectively cooled by heat radiation from the large surfaces of the structure, thereby eliminating the need for purifying equipment or separate heat-dissipating equipment.

The invention makes it possible to provide the winch with a smaller articially cooled motor instead of the larger motors with natural cooling heretofore usually employed in such machines.

In cases of design where the gear grease could adversely affect the condition of the cooling air, a closely tting thin wall enclosure can be placed over the gears within the larger gear cabinet 3, so that the cooling air circulates between the inner gear housing and the outer cabinet wall. In the same manner, other control equipment housed within the side portions can be separately enclosed, An additional interior enclosure of this kind is exemplied by the one denoted by I6 i Fg- 3.-,

If desired, the blower l5 may be arranged in a dii-erent place within the-circulation path of the cooling air, and it is also possible to bypass by yconduits l of the side walls or certain parts of' the sub-base or side portions if the circulating air is toloe kept out of contact with` particular accessories.

The illustrated embodiment in which the heated air is forced through the gear compartv ment for-inedA by the side portion 3 of the invent tion affords also the advantage of facilitating the operation of the winch in cold weather because theheatedair softens the grease and thus reduces the .gear friction of the machine.

As will be, understood by those skilled inthe art. especially in view of the modifications. mentioned in the foregoing, machines according to the in-` vention can be varied as toV details ywithout diev parting from the gis-t of the invention and Within the essential ieaturesof the invention as set forth lin the claims annexed hereto.

I claim as my invention:

l. A winch comprising a frame and cabinet structure of substantially U-.shaped cross section having a hollow base portion and two hollow side portions extending in parallel to each other up, wardly from said base portion, a winch drumand anappertaining electric motor disposed exteriorly on top of said base portion between said side portions, said base portion having a compartment underneath said drum in free communication with said two side portions and having another compartment underneath said motor also in communication with said wall portions but provided with a partition, said motor having its interior in communicationwith said latter compartment at two places on opposite sides of said partition so that a substantially closed path for air circulation extends through said motor and said two compartments and said two side portions, and a blower arranged to force air through said motor so that surfaces of said structure act as radiating surfaces for dissipating heat from said motor.

2. A winch comprising a frame and cabinet structure of substantially U-shaped cross section having a hollow base portion and two hollow side portions extending in parallel to each other upwardly from said base portion, a winch drum and an appertaining electric motor disposed eXteriorly on top of said base portion between said side portions, said base portion having a compartment in communication with the interior of said Side portions, and duct means connecting the interior of said motor at two mutually spaced places with said'respective side portions so that a closed path for air circulation extends from said motor through one of said side portions and through said compartment and said other side. portion back to said motor, and a blower disposed in said closed path for circulating air through said motor.

KURT

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

STATES PATENTS Number Name Date D. 138,425 Potter et al. Aug. l, 1944 2,352,395 Ljungkull June 27, 19,44 2,379,858 Banzhaf et al July l0, 19,45

FORElGN PATENTS Number Country Date 15,222 Great Britain of 1 910 349,827 Great Britain June 4, 19,31 

